ACURE4Moms Wins Healthcare Innovation Award, J2 Interactive Gives Back with Donation to Doulas

BOSTON, MA, UNITED STATES, September 9, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — This week, Healthcare Innovation awarded ACURE4Moms (Accountability for Care through Undoing Racism and Equity for Moms) one of its three prestigious, annual Innovator Awards. As a key technical partner for the ACURE4Moms project, J2 Interactive is honored to share in this recognition and also pleased to announce donations being made to Momma’s Village-Fayetteville and MAAME, Inc., both fellow program participants.

Maternal and infant health outcomes in the United States continue to lag behind those of other developed nations, and the disparities are most striking for birthing parents of color. According to the CDC, Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than white women, and data from the March of Dimes shows Black infants are twice as likely as white infants to be born at a low birthweight — outcomes that often trigger a cascade of costly, additional medical complications over a child’s lifetime.

ACURE4Moms was launched to address these disparities by combining institutional accountability, healthcare data, and community-based support. The study brings together clinicians from the University of North Carolina (UNC), community-based doulas from MAAME and Momma’s Village-Fayetteville, data experts from the North Carolina Health Information Exchange Authority (NC HIEA), and partnerships with SAS and J2 Interactive providing the necessary technology infrastructure.

“This award is an incredible recognition of the concerted effort that so many stakeholders have put into designing and implementing interventions to address these disparities,” said Becky Durant, Vice President of Professional Services for J2 Interactive. “We’re so proud to have designed the data alerts for the ACURE4Moms project, and pleased that we can support even further by covering the cost of a doula for a mother in need at both Momma’s Village-Fayetteville and MAAME.”

To date, the program has enrolled more than 58,000 patients across 49 program sites statewide, and collected upwards of 47,000 data points capturing medical, mental health, and social risk factors that contribute to low birthweights and other pregnancy complications. This data forms the foundation of the program’s health disparities dashboard, giving providers and researchers visibility into where and how such disparities emerge. The alert system has yielded an 85% clinician response rate, demonstrating clear efficacy and increased collaboration between patients and clinicians.

“Doulas do work that data alone can’t capture. We’re with these moms before, during, and after delivery — sometimes up to a year after the baby is born, supporting them all the way. Community-based support isn’t a nice-to-have, it’s often the difference between a mother succeeding and a mother falling through the cracks,” said Angela Tatum, Founder of Momma’s Village-Fayetteville. “The preliminary results from ACURE4Moms have been promising and suggest, in our opinion, that this approach could be a national model. We are excited for the next steps and are grateful for J2 Interactive’s generous donation toward doula care.”

The work of the ACURE4Moms project is not yet complete: while enrollment at most of the sites has concluded, researchers will continue to collect and analyze data, with final outcomes and impact to be announced in 2028. Having witnessed the success of ACURE4Moms first-hand, J2 is encouraging other partners in healthcare IT to match their donations and support the important community service doulas provide.

About J2 Interactive
J2 Interactive is an award-winning software development and IT consulting firm serving health systems, payers, labs, research institutions, health information exchanges, and public-sector organizations with a healthcare focus. Our approach to design and development is rooted in a fundamental belief that systems succeed or fail based on how well they serve patients and the people who care for them. Learn more by visiting our website or following us on LinkedIn.

Bree Schuette
J2 Interactive
+1 603-941-8127
bschuette@j2interactive.com
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